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Greenland’s Vanishing Ice Sheet: Laurence C. Smith in The New York Times

The ice sheet covering Greenland is melting—fast. Lakes and river networks crisscross its vast surface, draining into the ocean and expediting the melt. And this past summer, climate expert Dr. Laurence C. Smith—author of The World in 2050, head of the geography department at the University of California, and exclusive Lavin speaker—headed a team of scientists gathering on-the-ground data to measure, for the first time, just how much, and how fast, the melt is happening. In The New York Times cover story “Greenland Is Melting Away,” you can now explore a gorgeous multimedia feature on the difficult, dangerous, but utterly crucial work of Dr. Smith, his team, and their NASA-funded research.

Dodging winds, delicate ice, sinkholes and freezing temperatures in Greenland, and climate-change-denying Republican trying to cut their funding back in the States, Smith’s team is seeking to understand “how rapidly sea levels will rise in the 21st century, and thus how people in coastal areas from New York to Bangladesh could plan for the change.” According to their research, “the full melting of Greenland’s ice sheet could increase sea levels by about 20 feet.”

Laurence C. Smith is helping us envision, and prepare for, the world of tomorrow: a planet we’ll leave to our children and grandchildren, but one that might look wholly different from the one we know today. This NYT article is another reminder why Smith’s work on climate change matters to all of us, no matter who or where we call home.